


what happens in england stays in england

by leviadrache



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Mild Language, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-21 00:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9522728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviadrache/pseuds/leviadrache
Summary: The only thing Ritsu wanted to do for spring break was to take some nice long naps in his bed. Nothing else. As one could easily see, having to accompany his shitty brother all the way to England was certainly not part of this plan.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Raiyo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raiyo/gifts).



> this was written as part of a fic trade with my dude miles !!  
> set after third years graduate

To reflect back on the events of the past few weeks and figure out exactly how he ended up here was _way_ too bothersome for someone like Ritsu. The longest explanation he could manage to come up with would be: lots of noisy stuff, not trustworthy juniors and Eichi being mean as usual. The short and at least a billion times better explanation was predictable, but at least it made a lot more sense.

Anija. Sucks.

“Ahh, Ritsu, don't just fall asleep in that position! That's bad for your spine. Do you want to use my coat as pillow?“

“Ah, so noisy... all I want from you is to shut the fuck up, okay?“

Rei laughed, but it sounded almost too pleased and smug to be called this way. Read: it annoyed Ritsu. He hoped, no, _prayed_ to get sick from the movement of the plane, just so he could throw up into Rei's lap. There was no way Rei would still laugh if he got his precious leather pants ruined.

(And really, what the hell was wrong with you? This flight to England was god knows how many hours long and your choice of pants were those ridiculously tight leather pants?? Fuck you and your fashion sense.)

But then, considering how awful Rei was as a person, he might actually enjoy it if Ritsu threw up on him – which, uhm, gross? Definitely not a train of thought Ritsu wanted to dwell on.

He took a deep breath in, reminding himself of his plan. Fly to England, get over and done with this trip as fast as possible, then come back and spend the rest of spring break with naps. Perhaps force his friends to make up for letting this happen to him. Of course, this was based on the assumption Ritsu wouldn't seriously harm himself or his fucking awful brother somewhere along the way.

Sure, it wasn't as if Izumi or Leo could be blamed. The two just graduated and had other things to worry about. Or well, Izumi had. To be honest, Ritsu had no idea what Leo did these days.

Arashi and Tsukasa definitely had to take responsibility though. Not that Ritsu expected them to take him in for a week, but like. Why did they have to work during break? Even more importantly, why did they have family business going on when Ritsu needed them? Mao and his family were on vacation for break too. Which left Ritsu with almost no one to turn to.

It turned out that despite their constantly travelling around and never bothering to show any interest in the lives of their sons, his parents did not want their 'precious small one' to be alone at home with no one to look after him. Arguing that he was old enough to stay on his own and had Hajime or Eichi to hang out with didn't help at all. It would be a good experience for him to travel for once too, they said over the phone. They heard Ritsu only rarely left the house, he really should change that habit of his.

Ahh, just thinking about those people that called themselves his family made Ritsu want to vomit again. The two of them and that shitty brother of his weren't too different in the end.

Curling up against the window, Ritsu tried to put as much distance as possible between him and Rei. Time certainly would pass faster if he took a nap, right?

* * *

 

Once they reached the hotel they would be staying at, Ritsu was faced with the next major problem of this plan. Well, this whole rip has been a problem from the start and would be one until the end, but honesty. This was all so bad, why was this happening to him.

“Hey, anija,” he said, assuming that's enough to make Rei understand.

However, for once – the one damn time Ritsu wanted his attention – Rei just stepped past him to put their bags into the room.

“Anija! You can't be serious...”

Looking back at Ritsu, he tucked a few strands of hair behind his ear. He looked a bit exhausted, now that Ritsu got a proper look at him. Carrying both of their bags must have been tiring. Ritsu knew his bag was really heavy actually. Predicting that Rei would be annoying enough to suggest carrying both of their bags, he put a few extra items into it. Some important stuff he needed, like, you know, just some rocks from the park and such things. Bothering Rei was the whole point of it, so he felt no sense of guilt. It was almost too easy to do such things with Rei being so willing to do whatever Ritsu wanted.

“Is there a problem, dear Ritsu?”

Pointing at the single bed in the room, Ritsu tried to put as much disgust into his voice as possible. “We're not sharing that.”

“Ohh,” Rei's eyes widened in surprise, but Ritsu didn't miss the smile playing on the corners of his lips. “I assumed our parents reserved another hotel room, since they also took care of your ticket. Let me go and talk to the personal.”

Ritsu hummed, letting himself fall on the mattress, deliberately taking up as much space as possible. “Mhmm, just as I thought. This bed is perfect to spend a whole week on. Anija, wake me up once it's time for our flight back home.”

“Ritsu...”

But Ritsu didn't bother to listen any longer. Pulling the sheets from the bed over his body, he closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. Rei always sleeps in that coffin and he said he would solve this, so he was capable to search for another bed.

He heard a soft sigh and – ah, see, see, see! Rei wasn't the saint he pretended to be! Turns out even he could get annoyed. He should stop pretending to be so patient. Carefully opening his eyes a little, Ritsu hoped to get a glance of Rei's displeased expression, but, uhm.

The expression Rei wore was nothing but content and almost proud. He giggled when he noticed Ritsu was looking back at him. “Ohh, don't be bothered by me. The plane ride must have been tiring for you. Leave it to your oniichan to get something to drink and solve this, yes?”

Ritsu rolled his eyes and turned around to lay in his other side. _Just do whatever you want_.

Soon enough, he felt himself drifting off to sleep. It was always a wonderful feeling to just forget about everything and drift of to blissful sleep, he thought as he curled further into the sheets. Spending a week just doing this didn't seem too bad, actually.

Just sleep was nice...

Or so he thought until he woke up again. Waking up in an unfamiliar room wasn't something uncommon to Ritsu, but waking up in a different country still seemed weird. Not that the location had an effect on his absolute lack of motivation to get up. The room was dimly bathed in orange light and a glance to the digital clock on the wall told him it had to be around sunset.

The sheets were very warm on his body, so he pushed them off his chest. When he was hit with a wave of cold air, he pulled them over himself again. Ah, England really sucked.

Since it turned out to be impossible to fall back asleep right away, Ritsu continued to look around in the room. His gaze fell on the small table next to the bed with a cup and a plate with a slice of white bread on it.

_Must be breakfast oniichan got for me_ , he mused. _How gross... as if I would eat something he touched..._

If he ate this food, Rei would get a chance to feel satisfied about his awful self sacrificing habits and think he did something to help Ritsu. Which was really something Ritsu didn't want to happen. Doing something to make Rei happy was just _bad_.

There was no way he would fall for this cheap set up. The only reason Rei did all those things was so Ritsu would forgive him and that was really petty, okay? As if he could gain Ritsu's affection with some cheap cold food and even cheaper cold coffee.

_It is fine if you hate me or loathe me. However, please treat yourself with importance._

Ahh, how noisy.

Ritsu would not eat this, just so Rei's efforts would be wasted. Served his self sacrificing ass right. Ritsu stomach growled, but he had to stay strong.

Sinking back into the warm embrace of the sheet, Ritsu tried to fall back asleep again. But now that it was progressively getting darker outside, he felt more and more awake. The fact that he hasn't eaten anything since they got out of the plane combined with the smell of the coffee didn't help and, shit, yeah, he was hungry.

He did have standards though, so he pulled the covers up to his chin and tried to make himself comfortable enough. If he had one talent, it was to fall asleep in any situation possible.

That was, everything considered, a really good plan. Except the fact that Ritsu, well, didn't actually have any standards.

But if he took just a small sip and ate a small bite, Rei couldn't possibly notice it, right? He was probably visiting those friends of his and not thinking about Ritsu anyway. It took a couple more minutes of contemplating before he decided that eating this was at least better than going out on his own to get food. Getting up sounded even more like a pain. Ah, being lazy sure was a harsh life, huh?

As it turned out, life was harsher than he thought. Just when he moved the cup to his lips, the door to the room was opened.

“Ah, I'm glad to see you awake!”

“I wish I wasn't actually.”

Rei didn't seem to listen to him, smiling way too pleased. “Is that coffee still okay? Do you your oniichan to get you something else?”

“No, I just want my oniichan to shut the fuck up.”

_Oh._

**Fuck**.

“Ritsu!!!!” Rei exclaimed, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Being the awful gross person he was, he rushed to the bed, pressing his heavy body against Ritsu in what was perhaps meant to be a hug. “I'm so happy! Ahh, I knew you were the cutest and still love me, see? You _are_ the cutest.”

“Let go of me! Shit, anija, you're so gross.”

Slow, painfully slow, Rei pulled away. “Just you and me at this hotel and you even called me oniichan~ Isn't that great, Ritsu? Almost feels like we're on our honeym-”

“Bye, I'm leaving.”

“Ritsu!” Grabbing his wrist, Rei held onto him. “You can't run off on your own here. Do you know the name hotel?”

As much as Ritsu wanted to leave and as much as he hated to admit Rei was right, his shitty brother did have a point there. There was no way he would bother to remember the name when he didn't bother to pay attention to it in the first place. He was bad enough at remembering things. Usually he could just count on Mao to remember or to find him and bring him home. Which saved lots of energy, but unfortunately wasn't a choice here.

Ah, that was no good, he felt as if he might vomit for real now.

* * *

 

_Maakun, save me im dying_

_What's wrong?_

_Anija wants to ride london eye, maakun ill die if i spend another minute with him_

_I'm glad to hear you're having fun :)_

_London eye sounds cool_

_Maakun im DYING_

_Ritsu ..._

_Be nice to him. He's nice to you too_

  
  


Ritsu sighed. Mao, who was honest to a fault, a hard worker and even let himself be bossed around by his younger sibling, just couldn't understand what Ritsu was going through.

Mingling in this crowd with way too many people, Ritsu had to actually pay attention and try, _actively try_ to not lose Rei, which was really a hassle. Even as he texted Mao, he had to pay attention to his surroundings. Ritsu was moments away from spitting at Rei, when that shitty brother of his offered to hold hands – _it's the easiest way to stick together, you loved this when we were younger, didn't you_.

Honestly?? _No_? Please don't even _think_ about touching me, anija, okay?

“Aren't you excited?” Grinning like a child, Rei took a step forward. They were getting dangerously close to the thing Ritsu truly wanted to get away from.

“I want to go home... mmm I knew it would be the best to stay at home.”

Rei shook his head, eyes widened. “But I'm very happy you accompanied me!! The nights here are very exciting and I'm glad I can show this amazing place to my cute little brother.”

“My bed is an more amazing place.”

“Oh my, I hope that's not meant as an invitation. How scandalous~”

Glaring him down with all of his will, Ritsu looked back at his phone to avoid Rei's gaze.

He hated it when Rei looked at him. That unreadable expression he wore as he looked down on Ritsu. Ever since he left, Ritsu had trouble to figure out what was going on in his head and really, it just made sense that Ritsu couldn't trust this stranger anymore. His _real_ oniichan was always easy to figure out, so so much, well, uhm, _better_.

Not knowing what was going on in Rei's head just threw him off. He was good at watching over people, notice if something was going on inside them. Even though he wouldn't bother to take the initiative and approach them. He wasn't suited for that after all, but the knowledge did offer some comfort for him at least.

To comfort others, one had to be okay with getting tangled up in their affairs. Ritsu wasn't fond of the thought of getting involved with any type of trouble. That was more something for people like Mao or Anzu who loved to get involved with others. People like his oniichan.

But. Anyway.

“The wait was worth it, wasn't it?” Rei sounded much too excited about sitting in this passenger car that felt more like a prison cell to Ritsu. It struck Ritsu as weird, since he could honestly see anything exciting or even slightly positive about having to sit in this glass cell for how long again? Half an hour? An hour?

He really needed a nap.

So once he stumbled into this and fell into a seat in the corner, he let his body curl up against the glass window, dedicated to pass the time with a good old nap. He wasn't sure what Rei did, but somehow only a few other people were in their car and those who were remained in the opposite side of it.

Leaving Ritsu with just Rei's company unfortunately.

“Hey, we're setting off!”

“It's so high already, Ritsu, look how small the buildings look from here.”

“Ahh, you're so cute when you're asleep, it's hard to decide if I want to take more pictures of you or the look outside.”

“ _What the fuck_? Anija, don't take pictures of me, you're so gross.”

“Oh, so you _were_ awake,” Rei smiled at him innocently, as if he was honestly surprised to see Ritsu awake. As if he didn't purposely keep Ritsu awake with his chatting. “Let's take a picture together then!”

“No.”

“Let's have a nice chat then! We don't get to talk enough lately.”

He smiled at Ritsu, gentle, bright and almost forgiving. It pissed Ritsu off, because really, he wasn't stupid, he _knew_ the only reason they didn't talk was because Ritsu avoided Rei, damn, they both knew. But Rei never seemed upset about it, acted like everything was fine and it wasn't.

Where was that cardboard when he needed it? Was it possible to open a window or something in here? He didn't mind jumping out if it would spare him from having a conversation with Rei.

“I hear that king of yours and Izumi-kun applied for the same university.”

Ritsu frowned. He was almost tempted to ask how Rei knew such things, but then Rei was Rei after all. Despite his general mannerism, he loved surrounding himself with others and such things. Despite claiming to be a creature of the night, he loved to bathe in light. Damn, Ritsu really hated him.

“I hope you're not too heartbroken over them. But you know, it's okay if you tell them you're sad. It's no good to hold back your feelings. Listen to your oniichan's advice.”

“If you call yourself that word once more, I'll break the glass and jump out. No, wait, I guess I should push _you_ out.”

Rei his a laugh behind the back of his hand. “You're cute, but you don't have to always keep acting tough. No matter how eternal it seems, youth only lasts for a limited time after all.”

_Ah, oniichan is really cruel, huh?_

Izumi and Leo, they've always been up to their own things. Ritsu didn't like to interfere with them, but that was no problem. He had his Mao and there was no need to mingle too much. Only recently did Knights start to bother about things like caring for each other, thanks to their two new members. But with graduation approaching, Ritsu couldn't appreciate this development. He really wasn't good with change and knowing the two people he loved the most in this unit were about to leave was kind of, well.

Not that Arashi and Tsukasa weren't fun to have around too. He loved them too, accepted all the four of them into his family, but.

With the ceremonies and the trip coming up, with everyone so excited and loud and distracting, he didn't get much time to think about this. But now, with no one around besides his brother, it was just. Shit. He didn't even know Leo wanted to go to university. Although he ...

He wanted them to stay, but they were leaving him behind once again.

He also wanted to cry now.

“If there's something bothering you, know that I'm always here for you. Ah, I'm very happy to have you accompany me here. So rely on me more, won't you?”

“You're awful, okay?” Ritsu almost shouted. Usually he could control himself. However, usually didn't apply to when he was tired from the flight and some weird sense of jet lag and, well, Rei's constant presence around him. Mentioning Leo just added to this pile of tiring things. Where was the point in caring about the volume of his voice anyway.

“Stop assuming you know anything about me, stop talking and, shit, stop acting like you are glad about my presence when I know you don't even want me around.”

“Who said that?” Rei raised an eyebrow, still the very image of a calm person. It was almost scary and definitely annoyung how unaffected he was by Ritsu's anger. “Of course I'm glad to have you around.”

“Don't lie. I know you aren't. If it wasn't for our parents, you would have come here on your own again. You only invited me _after_ they told you to.”

“Is that so? Then say, with you rejecting me all this time, wasn't it fair for me to assume that you would prefer to stay home with your beloved friends?”

See? Awful.

Trying to find a proper response, Ritsu noticed his hands were trembling. Ah, that was no good. He couldn't get worked up so easily about this.

He didn't expect Rei to grab his wrist and move closer to him, certainly didn't even deem it possible when Rei tangled their fingers together and pulled both of their hands up to stroke over Ritsu's cheek.

“It's all right if you're upset at me.”

It's not, it's not, _it's not_.

Rei who always tried his best and accepted Ritsu no matter what he did. Rei who was supposed to always stay by his side and never let him go, but he left, making it impossible for Ritsu to trust him again.

Rei who had every right in this world to be upset and yet he wasn't.

Ugh. Staying at home really would have been better than this.

“Sometimes things just get painful. The older you get, the more things will hurt you, but you will also see more and more beautiful things. You are very beautiful yourself, Ritsu.”

“Anija...”

“I always love seeing you, my darling brother.”

Ritsu snorted, pulling Rei's hand away from his face but not letting go of its warmth yet. Not that he thought of it as comforting. “You're way too easy to please. Being so cheap, ahh, that's actually gross.”

“I can't help but be cheap for you,” Rei smirked at those words and, _geez, oniichan, your fanservice mode is_ so _embarrassing_.

“Uwaa, gross,” Ritsu didn't want to sound as amused as he did, but, ah, whatever. “Anija what the _fuck_.”

“Well, at least I'm honest.” Rei tightened his hold on Ritsu's hand. It was a bit for Ritsu to not immediately flinch away when Rei leaned against him, but he did manage. Somehow, it felt wrong to reject him. He couldn't tell what was going on, but maybe he felt a bit guilty for getting loud.

“Are you sure you want me around?” he wondered quietly. Only when Rei squeezed his hand, he realized he spoke loud enough to be audible.

“Of course. I always do.”

Instead of his usual way of speech, Rei sounded weirdly honest now. Running his free hand through Ritsu's hair, he hummed fondly. There was something strange about this, really, because Ritsu couldn't pull away, slightly leaning into the touch.

When he was younger, he loved getting his head pat by Rei. It felt way more awkward now, but it wasn't completely unpleasant. Sure, he was not going to forgive Rei so easily, that would be downright stupid. There were still so many things they had to figure out. But maybe, as they were sitting in this glass cell, a place much brighter and warmer than any coffin could be, maybe he would like to relax for a bit.

Leaning back against Rei's side, Ritsu laid his head on that annoyingly bony shoulder. Talking so much exhausted him, so now that he relaxed again, he could feel all the energy leave his body. There was no one to blame him for being tired after all those exhausting things. A nap couldn't hurt now.

It wasn't as if one of them could leave from any time soon either, right?

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact here is that i needed a bunch of drafts bc ritsu's pov is just really hard to get imo, but then it was like "let ritsu say fuck - ah ok, that works now"


End file.
